Alfred Ty named vice chair of MPIC

MANILA, Philippines — Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC), the infrastructure and tollways conglomerate chaired by Manuel V. Pangilinan, has strengthened its strategic alliance with George Ty-owned GT Capital Holdings Inc. with the appointment of Ty’s son Alfred as vice chairman of MPIC.

The board appointed the younger Ty on March 1. Ty, vice chairman of GT Capital, is one of the country’s youngest and well-known tycoons.

There were no changes in the shareholdings of GT Capital in MPIC, maintaining its 15.6 percent stake in the infrastructure conglomerate which it sealed in May 2016.

This developed as MPIC plans to allocate a bigger capital expenditures this year as it prepares for more investments including bidding for more unsolicited projects, officials said last week.

“It’s going to be a bigger capex because there are bigger projects that need to be done,” MPIC chief financial officer David Nicol said.

The conglomerate spent roughly P76 billion last year or P38 billion for group-wide capex and another P38.9 billion to deepen the company’s participation in the power sector and expand into new markets including Indonesia, said MPIC president and CEO Jose Ma. Lim.

When asked about this year’s number, Nicol said the company has yet to finalize the 2018 capex but said it would definitely be bigger.

At the same time, he said the conglomerate can invest more if the tariff issues related to its subsidiaries are resolved.

MPIC’s Maynilad Water Services Inc. for instance is facing a five-year struggle against regulatory delay.

“I had thought we were close to resolution of most of our regulatory issues. However, the late and unexpected appeal by government to vacate the award Maynilad received months ago in the Singapore arbitration is, I am advised without merit, and it may take up to six months to work this through,” Lim said.

The company is facing similar regulatory challenges in its tollroad business.

“We had thought the Toll Regulatory Board was moving toward implementing long-delayed tariff adjustments, but we are now unexpectedly facing further delay. We and the government share the same objective: to provide fairly priced infrastructure to the public,” Lim said.

Despite the regulatory issues, Lim said the conglomerate will vie for more unsolicited projects and other investments.